Watching Rachael Ray

There were tears all around on Tuesday as Valerie Bertinelli joined Rachael in order to help change an extraordinary young man’s life. Many of us remember being 20 as being a time of parties and exploring ourselves, but for Joey it was something different. He made the decision then to take in and fight for the custody of his twin sister’s sons who had been taken away and were about to be put into foster care. He proved that he meant business by taking parenting classes and doing everything to prove the Child Services wrong - some men are more then capable to take care of kids on their own - even one with special needs.

He does have the help of guardian angels, friends who have helped fill in whatever gaps he needed in order to assure the kids were taken care of. Nicole pulled the night shift and stayed with the boys every night for two years while Joey worked, and his friend Hector moved in to help lighten the load, while Jill lends a helping hand. The adoptions became official just a year ago, but it’s clear they’ve always known Joey as dad.

Valerie went to make some big changes for Joey and the boys, and once the surprises started, they didn’t stop. Joey was surprised, and said he felt like he wasn’t doing anything big, just what he had to do for his family. First there was a $3000 shopping spree at Toys R Us and Sears, then the boys got to do some secret shopping of their own for Joey. At the studio, there were gift cards for Hector, Jill and Nicole, and Rachael had spoken to Joey’s boss and gotten him a raise and Christmas bonus - plus dinner every week-night for a year from Home Bistro.com! Last, but definitely not least, they surprised him with $50,000 to use as he sees fit however his family needs. It left him speechless, and there were tears all around…

Then we switched gears completely, and just for the suxors, and other nay sayers, Rachael gives us a personal tour of the 30 Minute Meals set, and we get to see the whole process from beginning to end. They show 22 minutes of cooking time, in four segments in a process that is completely mapped out to make sure they get the finished product at the end. They map it all out, then let her go, and no one does anything for her.

Her food designer Joey makes sure everything is in the right place so that she can grab it at the right time without having to search for it. Even he’s amazed at how much she carries at once! They do figure out how much she does over the break, and makes sure that people get to see all the important stuff and misses nothing. She really does it all in just 30 minutes. Of course, we don’t have set designers and people mapping out our every move to save time, but I’ve found most of her recipes I too, can do in about 30 minutes. It’s all good!

And hey, it’s not the Rachael Ray show without something for dinner - it’s a Tuesday Two-fer! Elsa’s Chicken Curry and Elsa’s Chicken Soup with Broken Spaghetti.